No Regrets!

We and a family of noisy doves woke up to watch the sun rise over the sand dunes of the Sahara. Pretty cool.

The 4×4 Land Cruiser tour was not quite the adrenaline ride up and down sand dunes I imagined. It was a more gentle tour of camel pens, a desert oasis, and more views of the dunes. Along the edge of the dunes is a string of sand-colored hotels and resorts, and there is a strong cellular and wifi everywhere. I didn’t realize this area would be so developed.

The dunes and surrounding landscape are a palette of faded orange and gray. The orange comes from the color of the nearby Atlas Mountains, but the grayish black rocks are still a mystery to this amateur geologist. Expansive plains strewn with these black rocks make this area look like the surface of another planet. Unfortunately, the landscape is also littered with garbage, mostly empty water bottles.

We sat down inside a nomadic Berber tent with a father and daughter to talk about the Berber lifestyle and sip some hot tea. Always hot tea, regardless of the temperature. And always a little glass. Those little glasses get hot! Interesting how they don’t use mugs here.

The little Berber girl was a cute 10-year-old named Fatima. She was shy and didn’t speak English, but I snuck a photo of her and made her smile when I showed her. With Mohamed’s translation help, I told her (in perfect Berber) that I had a daughter and then showed her a picture of Willow on my phone. Her face lit up. I pointed at her and said “Fatima” and then pointed at the phone and said “Willow”. She repeated, “Willoh”. A special moment. I wonder if experiences like this and exposure to tourists and pictures of cute, little girls from other parts of the world will encourage Fatima travel the world someday. Who knows.

We stopped for refreshments and another musical performance by locals. There seems to be a tradition of increasing the tempo and volume and energy level of a song as it goes on. These performers were much darker-skinned, but they were in fact Moroccan. I was reminded of Mohamed’s comment that there is no racism here.

Then it was time to turn north and leave the Sahara. We drove across the same rocky plains and past countless half-constructed buildings. Mohamed says there are so many buildings like this because people simply run out of money while building them, but I don’t buy that. There are just too many of them.

We arrived in Todra Gorge, a collection of canyons and valleys, and stopped for panoramic views and a nice little nature walk on a lush trail flanked by almond trees and a stream. Our first drops of refreshing Moroccan rain began to fall on us.

And now we’re in another charming little hotel, this one with sheer rock faces rising up on either side. Feels a bit like Sedona. Great AC for the first time, and the hotel pool is chilly but clean. The wifi is great, so I sat on our cute little balcony to blog for a few minutes before hurricane-force gusts came out of nowhere and sent me scampering back inside.

Dinner at hotel turned into a lengthy discussion about polygamy, unwanted pregnancies, gay adoptions. Heavy stuff! I had a lot of opinions, but felt it was best to keep my mouth shut. With a few more days left in this tour, I don’t want to make things weird.

Tomorrow, more exploration of Todra Gorge and then a drive through the mountains to a place called Ait Ben Haddou, location for the film Gladiator and others.